Intimate Knowledge
Page 19
She started in the direction she thought would lead her out of the maze, but after only a moment or two, she became less and less certain. Maybe it would be better to go back and wait for Simon.
But retracing her steps wasn’t that easy, either. The openings in the maze all looked the same.
She headed into another passage and ran smack into a hard body.
“Simon?” she whispered.
Before she could get a look at his face, the man grabbed her and clapped a hand over her mouth. He thrust a gun barrel to her temple and said savagely in her ear, “Don’t scream, you hear me? Don’t make a sound or I’ll put a bullet in your head.”
That voice…
The blood in Penelope’s veins turned to ice.
“I’m getting out of here, understand? You’re going to help me.”
Penelope nodded.
Tentatively, he lowered his hand from her mouth and grabbed her around the neck. The gun still at her temple, Doug Fairchild said hoarsely, “Which way?”
Penelope had no idea, but she pointed in the direction she’d been headed. Back to where Simon had left her and where he would hopefully find her again.
But suddenly it was Helen who stood in front of them. Weapon raised, she called out Doug’s name. “Let her go!”
He tightened his arm around Penelope’s neck. “I’ll shoot her, Helen. I swear to God. I’ve got nothing to lose now.”
Helen remained where she was until Doug cocked the trigger. “You really want your own sister’s blood on your hands?”
“All right, you win.” Helen lowered her weapon and tossed it to the dirt. “I’ll do whatever you say. Just don’t hurt her.”
“That’s up to you,” he said desperately. “You help me get out of here, and she lives.”
“Let her go, and I’ll help you,” Helen bargained. “You smuggled Nicin into the country, Doug. You used it in your own practice. You’re looking at ten years just for that. Add espionage and terrorism to the mix, and you’ll never see the light of day.”
His grip tightened around Penelope’s neck. “I wasn’t a part of that! I didn’t know anything about it, I swear! All I wanted was the Nicin.”
“They used you, Doug. Used your contacts and your money. You’re in this thing up to your neck, but I can help you. If you cooperate, I’ll see that you get a lesser sentence. I may even be able to fix it so that you walk.”
“That’s impossible! Your family doesn’t have that kind of pull.”
Helen spread her hand in supplication. “My family doesn’t, but I do. I’m a federal agent. We’ve been after Jane and her cohorts for a long time. You tell us what you know about their operation, and I’ll make sure you get special treatment.”
“I don’t believe you. You’re the same lying bitch you’ve always been.” But he lowered the weapon from Penelope’s temple, and for a moment, she thought that Helen had gotten through to him. Then he lifted the gun again, pointed it at Helen, and this time he fired.
“Bitch,” he muttered again as she crumpled to the earth.
Penelope screamed when she saw her sister hit the ground, and she fought against Doug’s hold. She kicked his shin, elbowed him in the ribs. She was like a tiger that had suddenly become uncaged. Her ferocity caught him completely by surprise, and his grip momentarily loosened.
Penelope flung herself away from him, and as she hit the dirt, she instinctively rolled toward Helen’s gun.
Her hand closed over the weapon, but she was too late. She stared up into the barrel of Doug’s gun. She could almost see his finger squeezing the trigger….
And then he stiffened. The gun fell from his hand, and his eyes rolled back in his head as he pitched forward.
It wasn’t until he hit the ground that she saw the knife protruding from his back. And then she saw Simon slowly walking toward her.
Chapter Twenty-One
Penelope went to see Helen in the hospital the next day. “How are you feeling?” she said, placing the flowers she’d brought on the nightstand.
Helen shrugged. “Not too bad. The bullet missed the bone,” she said, glancing down at her bandaged arm. “The doctor says I’ll be out of here in a couple of days.”
“That’s a relief.” Penelope sat on the edge of the bed. “I still can’t believe you’re a federal agent. I’ve always thought of you as—”
“Empty-headed? Self-absorbed?” Helen smiled. “It’s okay. That’s what I wanted you to think. That’s what I wanted everyone to think.”
“How long have you been doing this?” Penelope finally asked.
Helen shrugged. “A long time. I was recruited right out of college.”
“That long?” Penelope shook her head. “I never suspected a thing. What about Mom and Dad?”
“They don’t know anything about this, and it has to stay that way, Penelope. You can’t tell anyone. You know that, right?”
“I won’t, but…Helen, what about Grayson?”
“What about him?”
“Does he know? Is that why the two of you have been fighting lately?”
Helen closed her eyes, as if suddenly exhausted. “Yes and yes. He knows and he wants me to quit.”
“Can you blame him?” Penelope said harshly. “You could have been killed last night.”
“But I wasn’t. And we’ve shut down at least one route that was being used to smuggle cesium into the country. That’s a pretty big deal, Penelope.”
“I know, but…”
“Besides, Grayson is in the game, too.”
“The game?” Was that what she considered this? “What do you mean?”
“Grayson is DEA. He’s been undercover for years, and that’s another reason he’s not too pleased with me right now. Our operation threatened his.”
“And just what is his operation?” Penelope asked, not certain how many more revelations she could take. How could she have been so clueless about her own family?
“Alex Salizar is the leader of a drug ring in Manzanillo that rivals the infamous Juarez cartel. It took Grayson years to infiltrate Alex’s inner circle, and now his cover is threatened.”
“Alex Salizar is a drug smuggler?” Penelope asked in shock. “Why didn’t you warn me? Why on earth did you encourage me to stay at his villa?”
“Because Grayson already had someone in place at the villa who could watch your back.”
“Elena?”
Helen nodded. “Considering what we suspected about Jane, I thought you’d be safer there than here.”
Penelope rubbed her forehead. “What about Manuel Vargas?”
“A harmless pawn in Jane’s plan.”
“And Tonio?”
“He must have stumbled across something that made him suspicious. That’s why he tried to pull the plug on the shipment. By the time we got to him, he was too spooked to listen to reason. He refused our protection and…” She shrugged. “You know the rest.”
“Not quite,” Penelope said. “I still don’t know who Robert Smith is.”
Helen looked suddenly amused. “You didn’t recognize his voice?”
“It sounded vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place it. Why? Do I know him?”
“You could say that. Robert Smith is Grayson.”
Penelope gasped. Then shook her head. “How do you live this way, Helen? The lies. The deception. I couldn’t do it.”
“Are you sure?”
Penelope frowned. “What do you mean?”
“If you can’t live this way, then where does that leave you and Simon?” Helen asked softly.
Penelope glanced down at her hands. “I don’t know.”
“You still love him, don’t you?”
“Yes, but…” She hesitated. “He only pretended to love me. He lied to me, used me. It’s one thing to understand why he did it. Why you let him do it,” she said bitterly. “But I don’t think I could ever fully trust him again.”
Helen took her hand. “You know what you have to ask yourself, don’t you? Whether you�
��d be happier with him or without him. It’s as simple as that.”
BUT IT WASN’T simple at all because the decision was taken out of Penelope’s hands. A week had passed since the night of the auction, which had reached a successful conclusion without any of the guests being the wiser, and Simon hadn’t tried to contact her. She hadn’t had so much as a phone call, and as the days had gone, she tried to tell herself that it was for the best. Just let him go, that little voice advised her. And get on with your life.
But it didn’t seem like much of a life anymore. As much as she loved her family and her job, neither was enough to satisfy her. Nothing could stave off all those long, lonely nights that she spent tossing and turning.
Moving away from the window in her office, Penelope sat down at her desk and tried to concentrate on work. After a bit, she became aware of someone staring at her. She looked up to find Simon standing in her doorway.
The pen she’d been holding fell from her limp fingers. “What are you doing here?”
“I wondered if you’d had lunch yet.”
She lifted her chin. “You can’t just waltz in here and pretend nothing has happened. We were all nearly killed—” She broke off in alarm as he started toward her. “What are you doing?”
He came around the desk and knelt in front of her. “Say the word and I’ll leave. I’ll never bother you again.”
“Simon…”
“Is that what you want?” he demanded.
She sighed. “I don’t know what I want. You’re not the man I fell in love with. I don’t see how it could ever work out for us. This world you live in…I don’t think I could live like that, Simon.”
“How do you know until you try?”
“But you don’t love me,” she insisted.
“Who says I don’t?”
That stopped her for a moment. “Do you?”
“Yes,” he said simply. “More than anything. I can’t imagine my life without you.”
“Simon—”
He took her hand in his. “But I am who I am, Penelope. And what I do…it’s important. For us to be together, you’d have to understand that. You’d have to accept it. Can you?”
“I honestly don’t know,” she admitted.
He stood. “I guess that’s my answer.”
“Simon, wait!” She put a trembling hand on his arm. “I don’t want you to go. I can’t imagine my life without you, either.”
His gaze burned into hers. “Then what are we going to do about it?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. All I know is that every time you leave me, I’ll be worried that you won’t come back to me. You could get killed doing what you do.”
“I could get killed crossing a street,” he said. “There are no guarantees, Penelope. You know that. But I can promise you one thing. Our life together will never be boring.”
He reached down and tugged her out of her chair. “I do love you, Penny. You have no idea.”
“I think I do,” she whispered.
She drew him down for a kiss, and then, their lips still joined, he lifted her up to the desk.
Penelope’s heart went crazy at the way he looked at her, the way he touched her…
She had to admit, the old Simon had never made her feel so out of control. So head over heels in love.
“Will you marry me?”
The proposal took her breath away. She couldn’t speak for the longest moment, and then she nodded. “Yes, I’ll marry you. And this time…don’t be late, okay?”
ISBN: 978-1-4592-3253-2
INTIMATE KNOWLEDGE
Copyright © 2005 by Marilyn Medlock Amann
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Table of Contents
About the Author
Books by Amanda Stevens
Cast of Characters
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Copyright